Ethan Made the Travel Basketball Team!!!

Since last winter Ethan has been talking about wanting to join the Bethel travel basketball team this year...  As try outs approached he practiced outside and prayed that he would make the team during his bedtime prayers.  As most parents in similar situations, Sean and I were a little nervous - not about his skill, but just in the off-chance that he didn't make the team and how upset he would be.

So we signed up for him to go to both days of try-outs (even though the players only had to go to one) and he gave it his 'all.'  I was so proud of him for trying out!  We have been anxiously waiting for nearly two weeks to find out if he made it or not.  Today when I got the mail 'the letter' had arrived.  Oh, how I wanted to rip it open right there and find out!!  But I patiently waited until Ethan got home from school.

Shortly after he got home I showed it to him and I watched as he ripped it open.  He read it out loud and as soon as he got passed the "Congratulations you have made the..." He looked at me with the biggest, happiest smile I have ever seen and threw his arms around me!!!  It was one of the best 'Mom' moments ever!!  We hugged and we both shed a couple of tears in pure happiness.  We immediately called Greemie and texted Dad (he is in New Orleans for a presentation for work) and Poppy and asked them to call us when they got a chance.  They both quickly did everyone is so proud of Ethan!!

Let the basketball fun begin!!!  :)

Sean Passed!!!!

Just a couple of days before we headed to the Outer Banks, Sean found out that he passed the C.F.A. Level 1 exam!!!  Not only did he pass, but he received the highest scores in each section of the test.  This is huge - only 42% of the people who took the test passed!  Yes, I married a genius:)

I am SO proud of him!!!  Now the studying for the Level 2 exam begins....

Prince Family Reunion - OBX 2014

Sean's parents finally came back to the States from serving as mission presidents in Cali, Columbia!!  For three years we have been planning a family vacation with all of Sean's siblings and their families upon their return... and the day finally came!!  During the week of August 2-9 we rented a beautiful home on Corolla, NC and had a fantastic time!  It was the first time Sean's dad was able to meet (aside from via Skype) five of his new grandchildren!  (His mom came back to Utah in November for Marcie's wedding, so she was able to meet all of the new grandchildren then, except for baby Katherine, who was born in March).  It was great seeing everyone again and watching all of the kids have so much fun together.  (Oh, how we wish we lived closer so that the cousins could play together more often!).

The week was filled with pool time, wave riding, sand castle making, yummy food, relaxing, Prince Family Olympics, Wiffle ball games, family pictures on the beach, Family Night, Uno (and other card games), and a wonderful church service at the local ward.

I took some pictures (unfortunately not many) but I will post them soon:)

Life Update

Sean:  Took the C.F.A. (Chartered Financial Analyst) exam at the beginning of June after spending a year studying for it.  Now playing the waiting game to find out test results.  Whether he passed or not I am so proud of his dedication and love for learning!  Starting this week, Sean is traveling Monday-Thursday (this week was Monday-Friday, but it should mostly be Monday-Thursdays) every week until around September.  One positive thing about this is that he is able to get a lot of Marriott points - which means free vacations for us:)  But boy do we miss having Daddy home!

Ethan:   Ethan's last day of 4th grade is on Monday (June 23rd) - I can't believe that he will be in FIFTH GRADE!!!  Time is flying by way too fast.  He loves playing Minecraft, Pixolmon, reading, playing the trumpet, drawing, and writing.  He will be participating in a basketball camp this summer, in addition to going back to Camp Jamison for 5 days in July, then spending two weeks at the beach!!  He has a fun summer ahead:)

Owen:  Oh, little O!!!  He continues to keep us all laughing.  He LOVES playing swords, chase (also known as "Roar!"), and playing with our neighbors - Joey and Sammie.  Every Monday morning we go to the Learning Center and he loves it.  Just this past Monday night while I was putting him to bed he told me that 'the learning center is fun!'  His favorite book is The Red, Ripe Strawberry, The Mouse, and the Big Hungry Bear.  He has memorized most of it, but still loves to sit in my lap and read it together... again and again:)  He absolutely LOVES playing with legos...  not the big duplo legos, but 'real' legos.  He is actually really good with playing with them - it is so cute watching those little fingers play with those little pieces and make some pretty fun creations!

Ben:  Ben's personality continues to grow each day.  He is becoming quite feisty, but is also very sensitive.  If Owen starts crying, Ben will also start crying.  He's our little Chubba Choo!!!  He absolutely loves to dance and will start to dance almost every time he hears music.  Whenever he starts to dance I say, "Ben's feelin' the beat!" and Owen will say "mommy, I'm feeling the beat, too!" and he will join in the dancing party.  Ben is at the stage where he rips books... Owen never went through this stage so it is new to us, and we aren't big fans of him tearing up books, but we are trying to encourage him not to rip books... however, quite a few of our books have become victims... thank goodness for clear masking tape.  Ben also really enjoys cooking.  He will pull out some of my pots (he has two that are his favorite), then ask for the canister that has my wooden spoons, spatulas, etc. and he will pick out which one he wants to use.  He then will find something (whether it be a Mr. Monkey, a random lego piece, or something, and stir it up!  Our little chef:)

Me:  I am now teaching the 9 and 10 year olds in primary at church.  I am enjoying it, but I forgot how much preparation is needed when you teach primary!  I enjoy being able to spend so much time studying the scriptures, though, and getting to know the stories in the Old Testament better.  I'm still doing family history work, and since the church has just given us free access to ancestry.com and two other genealogy sites, I have been having fun doing more research.  It's just hard trying to find the time to do family history research (now that most of my 'free' time is spent preparing for my primary lessons).

Family History!

I absolutely LOVE learning about my ancestors.  About 9 years ago I started working on my family tree with hopes to make a "Heritage Album."  I got in touch with my great aunt, as well as a distant relative - both were in their 70's and they gave me so much information and shared stories and pictures.  Then life got in the way of my research - I was very busy with taking 15 credits per semester at GMU, working part-time, and raising a 1-2 year old, so all of the information I gathered was put away in a drawer.

Throughout the years the 'tug' to do research was always there, but I just thought it wasn't the right season in my life to start it again.  Then a couple of weeks ago I was reading the Ensign and told Sean that I felt I should start doing it again and expressed my concerns.  The next day was General Conference and one of the speakers said something that I felt he was saying directly to me... I can't remember exactly what it was, but in essence, I need to do my family history now!

So I pulled out everything from my drawer and have been busy typing it all into Family Search and the stories, etc into a Google doc (so I can have everything all together and also it will make it easier to eventually make a real "heritage album."  It has been so amazing to learn about my ancestors - I really, really love it.  Although I have hit some brick walls, I hope that with the help of ancestry.com I will be able to finally get more generations filled in!

Anyway, here is one ancestor of mine that I admire...

Meet Rosalia Hartman Hirn, born on September 13, 1862 in Germany.  According to the 1920 census she immigrated to NY in 1888.  I'm not sure if she and John Hirn were married in Germany or in NY, but I do know that she had 8 children, and 5 other babies who were either still-born or died as infants.  I can't imagine the sorrow she must have felt each time she had to lay one of her children to rest.  

She passed away in 1945 from a combination of old age, diabetes, and Alzheimer's.  I wish she could tell me her story-I would love to hear it.  

Rosalia and John Hirn

Rosalia and Dolores, her grand-daughter

I'm so glad that I started this project when I did... as the wonderful women who took so much time in writing me a lot of different stories that they remembered, sharing pictures (like the ones above) aren't able to do so anymore.  I believe that one of them has since passed away and the other one now gets extremely confused.  I am also so happy that I have started 'digging in' again and I really want to ultimately make a scrapbook of everything I am learning so that I can share it with my children, grand children, and (gasp!) great grand children.  

Our 2013 Family Yearbook is DONE!

I finished it a couple of months ago but just not got around to ordering it.  So here it is!!  Enjoy:)

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1Abs2rhu4csnfg&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET

Oh, What An Evening...

Yesterday evening was too funny not to post about, so here you go...

Sean and I have been talking about joining the YMCA, so we decided that we would go yesterday evening to sign up and work out.  So I cleaned up dinner and then ran around getting diapers, jammies, Sean's work out clothes, swim trunks, etc into the gym bag.  As we were literally running out the door, Ben spilled Josie's water all over himself.  So I put all of the bags I was carrying down, changed him, and finally loaded everyone (and everything) into the van.

We pulled up to the Y just as I remembered that I had completely forgotten to grab Sean's sneakers!  He even put them in big capital letters and said "VERY IMPORTANT" next to them in the email he sent of the things he wanted me to pack for him to work out in.  Opps.  So I tried calling him and then texted to let him know.  I later learned that he was less than 5 minutes from the Y when he got my text, so he had to turn around and come home to get them.

The boys and I went in and as I was filling out the paperwork Ethan accidentally bumped into Ben, causing Ben to fall face first onto the hard floor.  Yup, he immediately got a nice goose-egg on his forehead.  Sean came in a little later and we were finally able to take Owen and Ben to the daycare and work out.  (which, by the way, it was awesome to run again!)  Since I forgot to pack towels we couldn't go swimming, but it was getting late for Owen and Ben anyway, so we got them from the daycare, changed them into their jammies and headed home.

As I was getting Owen out of the van I noticed one of Sean's black work shoes on the top of the van... I carried it in and told him...  He realized then that he put his work shoes on top of the van when he was buckling Owen in.  Obviously one had fallen off somewhere on the way home...  So he quickly left to go to DSW before they closed to get another pair while I put everyone to bed.

Whew - what a couple of hours it was! :)

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

So far 2014 has kept us buried under lots and lots of snow.  It seems like as soon as our driveway is clear of snow and ice, it snows again.  And again.  And again.  Right now, we have over 2 feet of snow in our backyard... And that is after it rained all day yesterday and this morning.   I don't think it will snow again for at least a couple of days, as our driveway is still covered in an ice/snow/slush mess - so as soon as that finally clears up, I am confident that Old Man Winter will blow more snow our way.  (I know, I know... I shouldn't complain, as it is because of me that we aren't living in sunny California right now...)

Ethan had SIX days off of school last week because of all of the snow!  So, since we have basically been housebound for the past week, we have had a lot of time for family bonding:)  We did science experiments, made cement stepping stones, painted, played Zip It (Bananagrams for two people-LOVE it!), had an indoor picnic...  I also made homemade pancakes almost every day... and tried a new recipe basically each day to find that 'perfect' recipe!  I can honestly say, that I miss Ethan so much when he is at school!  It was so nice having him with the littles (Owen and Ben) and me.  

Lots of reading, Bananagrams, homemade pancakes (made extra fun with our farm animals pancake molds), playing in the snow

Indoor Picnic... Featuring The Jungle Book

One of My Favorite Things!

One of my very favorite things of the holiday season is Christmas cards!  I love getting the mail to find holiday cards from friends and family, see their pictures, and see what they've been up to!  I love hanging them up and find myself looking at them multiple times a day.  Yes, it is the little things that really make my heart happy <3 p="">

Family Pictures!

Our wonderful and talented friend, Alissa, took our family pictures again this year... and of course they turned out amazing!

 

I love how she captured the boys' personalities and included Mr. Monkey:)  The one of Owen smiling while yelling is so "Owen" - being loud and happy!

Life Update September-October

Boy oh boy, I haven't been very good at blogging lately!  I guess I just figure that I don't have anything big to write about, when actually, I should be writing about big AND little things that are happening!  Anyway, here are some things that we have been up to lately...

Ethan turned TEN!  Yup, it's hard to believe that my little boy is officially in the double digits.  I am still having a hard time believing it - it seems like just a couple of months ago he was starting kindergarten and now he is 10 and in the fourth grade.  He had a birthday party at a go-carting place in Brookfield - he had so much fun with his friends!  On his actual birthday we decorated his bedroom door with streamers going all across it and stuffed 10 balloons between the streamers and door so that when he opened it in the morning the balloons would fall on him... he was so surprised!!  We also did our usual birthday decorating, cake, presents, writing on his bathroom mirror, etc :)

I turned THIRTY!  Again, hard to believe that I am 30... oy.  I remember being 17 and listening to Tim McGraw's song, 'My Next Thirty Years' thinking, "wow, thirty is so old!"  Well, here I am - the big 3-0.  I wanted to do something big (like go sky diving) but then chickened out because on the exact day I suggested my brilliant idea to Sean, someone died while sky diving, so that totally crossed that off of my wild and crazy idea.  I woke up to our bathroom mirror covered in pictures of me from a baby to now and 30 reasons why Sean loves me - what a surprise!!  My mom and dad came from VA the following day and spent a couple of days with us to further celebrate.  :)

Sean is scheduled to take the first C.F.A. exam!  (C.F.A. stands for - I think - Chartered Financial Analyst).  He signed up to take it last year but the exam date was 12/1/12 - 2 weeks before Ben was due, and it was in NYC... so he didn't take it because we were worried I would go into labor during his test.  SO, his new test date is in June...  Here is to a lot more studying ahead, but I know he can do it!

Owen - still keeping us laughing and on our toes!  He is starting to talk even more and doesn't really like how Ben can now crawl over and play with whatever he can reach!  He still LOVES Mr. Monkey (aka.  "OoOo") and likes to have both of them with him almost all of the time.  He always makes sure people take their shoes off as soon as they come in the house, and if you forget, he will be sure to remind you over and over until you take them off:)

Ben - Ben is SO close to walking!  He can stand for a really long time without holding onto anything and is so close to taking his first steps, I just know it will happen within the next couple of weeks.  We jokingly call him "Chubba" because he eats and eats and eats!  He loves to crawl around and be close to everyone.

Connecticut Livin'

We have officially lived here in Connecticut for 13 months and it was was really hard for me moving away from Virginia.  However, I have slowly started to really like living here in Connecticut.  I have gotten used to the windy, woody roads, hardly any left turn lanes, lack of sidewalks, not living in a neighborhood, etc.  I enjoy the sweet surprises that sometimes (literally) can be right around the corner, such as the trees that are painted like an American Flag that are about 8 minutes from our house.  Here is a quick list of other 'Connecticut things' that I enjoy:

•   the diverse stores that you can find - there are so many "mom-and-pop" stores here (I'm sure they have some really neat things inside, but I'm hesitant to take a toddler and baby anywhere where there aren't wide aisles so little hands can't grab things!)  
• Stew Leonards - complete with a little zoo outside!
•  the baseball team names are the names of the companies that sponsor the teams - it really is a great example of how little Bethel supports local businesses.
• stone walls that can be found almost everywhere... Some are said to be over 100 years old!  The older ones were made to separate the land between neighbors.
• The Creamery!

I hope to add pictures of these things so you can see for yourself just now neat they are.

Yes, Connecticut is starting to feel more like 'home' and that makes me happy:)

Summer 2013!!

I can't believe that summer is already over!!  We have had a fun and busy couple of months!  Here are some of the highlights:

Trip to Boston!

One of the places that we wanted to visit while we live in New England was Boston... So once we found someone to watch Josie, we decided we would head to Massachusetts and explore the wonderful capital!  We arrived on July 4th and immediately started walking along the Freedom Trail!

Some of the things that we saw on Thursday:

• Boston Common (America's oldest public park)
• John Hancock's grave
• Paul Revere's grave
• place where the first public school was built
• Park Street Church (Prison reform began in this church, women’s suffrage was strongly supported here, and some of the first and most impassioned protests against slavery were delivered inside)
• Old State House (was the center of revolutionary Boston's civic and commercial life. On the town square outside its doors, the Boston Massacre unfolded in 1770, resulting in the deaths of five men, and galvanizing public opposition to British authority. The Declaration of Independence was read from the building's balcony in July 1776.)
• Site of the Boston Massacre 
• Quincy Market... where we ate yummy soft serve ice cream and watched street shows!
• Boston Harbor (site of the Boston Tea Party)

On Friday we went on a tour of Fenway Park (the oldest major league baseball stadium) - we loved seeing the famous baseball field!  Afterward we went to the Children's Museum, where Owen was able to sit in a real digger, and we spent lots of time playing at the water tables, sand tables, exploring a real Japanese house that is 100 years old, playing dodgeball on an interactive floor, climbing a huge tree house maze, and doing many other things that the museum had to offer.  After the museum we went to the Skywalk Observatory where we went to the 50th floor in the Prudential Building and saw 360º views of Boston - it was amazing! (Although I think Sean and I enjoyed it much more than the kids)

Friday night we arrived at the hotel and began getting everyone bathed and ready for bed.  Owen ended up throwing a glass cup and cut his thumbs pretty bad so we decided to take him to the ER to make sure that there weren't any little pieces of glass in the cuts and to see if they needed stitches.  Thankfully the PA didn't see any glass and was able to use a special glue to 'glue' the skin back together (although the glue on his right thumb split open Saturday...)    What a way to end the vacation with a bang!

Saturday we packed up and headed back to Connecticut :)

Owen's Two Year Stats

Before I forget...

Owen:
32.75 inches tall
25.2 pounds
48 cm head circumference

Ben's weight at 7 months old:  13.8 pounds (had a weight check today - up almost an entire pound in four weeks!)

Owen's Second Birthday!!

It's hard to believe that Owen is TWO!!  Although we didn't have a party for him, we tried to make it a special day... Ethan made him homemade chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast - which he absolutely loves, and I made him a cake and he opened his gifts.

He saw the cake before it was time to eat it and was so excited because there was a digger on it - he kept saying, 'digger, digger' and pointing to it and wanted to play with it so bad!  Thankfully Sean was able to distract him so I could hide the cake until it was time to eat it.  When the time finally came, he was so excited!  The first thing he did was pull off the digger!  He tried to blow out the candles and was able to with the help from Ethan and Daddy.  Then he proceeded to play with all of his mini diggers in his piece of cake - he had so much fun!

We love this boy so much!!  <3 p="">

Dad, Meg, and Hannah Visit!!

Dad, Meg, and Hannah came to visit on Thursday and left early this morning.  It was so much fun seeing them!!!  Dad and Ethan spent a lot of time together building model airplanes, a fishing boat, and a model car and Meg and I were able to spend a lot of time together while playing with the little ones and going to the park to walk/run.  On Saturday we went to The infamous Creamery in Newtown and watch the cows while enjoying our yummy ice cream and then went to a fun park nearby where the babies played and Ethan went in the creek trying to catch the crawfish.

The visit went by way too fast, but I am so grateful that they came and that we live within driving distance so we can see each other often (well, as much as we can considering we are 6 hours away).

Ben loved the ice cream, too!

Ethan watching for cows... (most of them were in the woods because it was so hot)

Ben's {Second} Haircut

Before.... (6/25/2013)

After... (6/30/2013)

Sprinkler Fun!

Strawberry Picking!

The boys LOVE to pick (and eat!) strawberries!